Is it wrong to design a baby?

Many consider the genetic screening and selection of embryos a symbol of great progress in medicine. Others are horrified by what these technologies could mean for human diversity.

It can be easy to discuss this topic in black and white terms, but if you were given the choice, would you not go ahead with a pregnancy if a genetic marker for a disease or cancer was found? And what else would you select for, if you could? Eye colour? Height? IQ?

So is there something wrong with wanting a so-called designer baby? This is the question that will be debated tomorrow night at the City Recital Hall in Sydney.

Guests

David Weisbrot

Professor of Legal Policy at the United States Studies Centre at the University of Sydney, elected member of the Human Genome Organisation and a member of the Human Genetics Advisory Committee of the National Health and Medical Research Council.

Julian Savulescu

Director of the Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics at Oxford University in the UK